RIP Anne McCaffrey

Word is going around that Anne McCaffrey has died. What can I say... I was nine when I started reading Pern (the Dragonriders omnibus from the Science Fiction Book Club!), and it forever altered the way I view books--not to mention the way genres can (and should) be warped and juxtaposed. Above all, though, her stories took me to a different place when I really needed to go there. Thanks, Anne.

Subdivisioning

I somehow managed to work Rush, the Arcade Fire, and the Descendents into the same A.V. Club article. My head hurts.

Exhibit A

The mailman just dropped off a boxful of my first novel. Is this what euphoria feels like?

Liberation songs

One of my favorite writers working today, Brian Francis Slattery, recorded an album. In it, he and his band interpret excerpts from his brilliant post-collapse novel, Liberation. Friggin' awesome. And it might just be enough to hold me over until his new book, Lost Everything, comes out in April.

Clarkesworld editorship

Clarkesworld Magazine has a new nonfiction editor, and I am it (unless I'm dreaming or something, which wouldn't surprise me). Seriously, I feel incredibly honored, and I'll be doing my best to expand the scope of Clarkesworld's nonfiction while staying true to the magazine's award-winning integrity and awesomeness. Publisher Neil Clarke has a few words on the subject in his announcement today.

Okay, now back to pinching myself.

Like an iceberg starting a band with the Titanic

My review of Lulu, the morbidly anticipated collaboration between Lou Reed and Metallica, is up at The A.V. Club. Commenters are going nuts. Rock may be dead, but at least its corpse is alive with hosts of vermin scouring it clean.

New review

Taft 2012 just got reviewed by Sarah Ann Noel in 303 Magazine. Some positive words were said -- as well as an acute observation that, despite my best efforts, my personal politics may have leaked into Taft a little. Oops.

Taft swag

Just got a package of promotional material for my upcoming novel, Taft 2012. Posters, campaign buttons... Quirk knows how to work it! As does Taft himself, that most dapper of chief executives.

Zzztazzzizzz

Couldn't sleep. Opted to start reading Blake Butler's Nothing. Best worst idea ever. Lidded and loaded. Coldly caging in poetry what it means to be lodged in that liminal holding pattern of unsleep. Plus, it cites both Brian Eno and Anton LaVey. No mention of J.G. Ballard's insomniac hymn, "Manhole 69," but I can live with that.

Agent announcement

I am somewhat deliriously giddy to announce that I have an agent: Jennifer Jackson, Vice President of Donald Maass Literary Agency, is now representing me. Her list includes some of the best names in science fiction/fantasy, including Jim Butcher, Elizabeth Bear, Anne Bishop, Cherie Priest, Jay Lake, Ekaterina Sedia, and geez I should probably just stop before I blow a gasket. Okay, deep breath. Time to go make some more books!